CHAPTER 22

Lily let out a grunt. "I guess that's valid. But maybe the problem is here, and leaving is the wrong thing to do."

"That brings me to the second point." He turned to face the room. "It's a feeling. I actually feel something drawing me to Oregon. I haven't thought about it really until Eulalie brought it up. That time I went to the fae realm, we went through Ireland, remember? I could feel the property I own out there calling to me, but forgot about it. What if there's something I'm supposed to do? We've all just assumed that I take over caring for this place, but what if there's something else? Kind of like the sundial. Maybe the geas itself needs to be reset? I don't know."

"What did Naia say?"

"She didn't have an answer. In fact, she went blank when I asked, and we know what that means."

Lily nodded. "The geas is protecting the answer."

"You got it. So, this is what needs to be done. Tomorrow, I'm planning on going to Oregon, but this all hinges on your willingness to stay here and pretend to be me."

"You aren't going to just tell me to do it?" She flipped her hair defiantly. "I may just tell you no."

He smiled at her, then walked around the desk until they were only a couple inches apart. The smirk on her face melted when he touched her cheek.

"And that would be okay," he said. "We would figure something else out."

Her lips parted as she stared into his eyes. It looked like she was going to say something, so he waited.

Lily grinned, and she reached out and pinched his nipple through his shirt.

"Ow, fuck!" He swatted her hand away and covered his chest.

"I'll do it," she told him. "But I plan to be a huge fucking diva about it. And you'll owe me. Big."

"I expect nothing less," he said with a laugh. "King Reggie? Have your people make the necessary plans. With any luck, Bigfoot can help us set up a portal of our own to come back, so we won't have to risk the safety of your crew."

"It shall be done." The rat king gave Mike a salute, which caused his crown to fall off his head. He picked it up in his teeth and leapt down from the table. As he left the room, Beth walked in with a concerned look on her face.

"Mike? I need you to come with me."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Eulalie." Beth's brow was furrowed, and her voice contained a hint of panic. "There's something wrong with her."

Concerned, he followed Beth out to the garage. Dana had invited Eulalie to stay in her room beneath the garage, which had been an old oil pit that had been turned into a room. Dana stood in the middle of the room, her focus on Eulalie who sat in the corner. A small web had been built as a supportive hammock and Eulalie had gone limp inside of it.

"Eulalie?" He moved close to the web, but stayed back. Her eyes fluttered open at her name and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sorry, Mike, but I won't be able to lead you to the cabin." She sat forward, her arms resting on the webs.

"Are you sick?" he asked.

"Worse," she replied. "I'm getting ready to molt."

He shuddered in revulsion. There was no hiding his reaction this time.

"Can we wait a day or two?" Beth asked. "Until you're done?"

"It's going to take way longer than that," Eulalie replied. "Nearly a month."

"A month?" Mike was incredulous.

Eulalie nodded. "A month of discomfort and feeling bloated, followed by my exoskeleton cracking and falling apart as the tissue beneath expands. It isn't a pleasant process to watch, and I will be extremely vulnerable to injury that whole time and become a liability. I thought I had more time, but packing myself up in a box and being sedentary may have triggered it."

"It's okay." Dana moved toward Eulalie and took her hand. "We'll figure something out."

Eulalie looked at Mike, her eyes imploring. "None of this worked out like I thought it would, and now I'm a huge imposition. This fucking sucks...sorry."

"The jar is full already," he reminded her.

"I just...will you please go help my sister? I'll do anything."

"Eulalie." He kept his eyes up as he approached, trying to avoid looking below her waist. When he held out his hand, she took it. At once, he realized that her skin was covered in extremely fine hairs that he hadn't noticed before. Marveling at how soft her fingertips were, he gave her a confident smile. "Don't worry. We'll take care of everything. And you are welcome here as long as you like."

"Thank you," she said, then leaned forward and hugged him. Her arms were surprisingly strong.

Velvet was crouched up in the tree, her legs splayed out amongst the branches. She was careful not to jostle the branches, afraid that she would knock free some of the ice that had accumulated there.

A young buck had wandered into the glade and was almost beneath her tree. It had been a little while since her last proper meal, and her stomach felt tight with hunger. She had been extra hungry recently, and had no idea why.

Probably a perk of getting old, she thought to herself. Nobody knew how Arachne morphology worked anymore, and she wondered how many molts she had left until she became old over a matter of weeks, just like her mother had.

At least it would happen to Eulalie first. Then the two of them could figure out if they got aches and pains like people did. True, one of her leg joints squished when it was cold out, but that's because she had injured it a couple years back and it hadn't healed straight. It would be right as rain eventually, but it was still annoying.